Mine excursion
Coal mining is more than meets the eye, writes Leon Louw.
The renewed optimism that has gripped South Africa after the election of Cyril Ramaphosa as president of the ANC in December 2017, is bound to have a ripple effect on the mining industry. Although there is still a palpable dearth of exploration and greenfield projects in South Africa, things are looking up. The strengthening of the rand against most other foreign currencies is not the best news for bulk exporters like iron ore, manganese, and coal; however, the new-found political stability will lure foreign investors and boost the confidence of local mining companies. In fact, there has been a marked uptick in the number of coal exploration projects over the past year or so, as new entrants clamber to supply the beleaguered public utility Eskom.
For a commodity that is perceived by most as a run-of-the-mill, boring chemical conglomeration that is burned in boilers to keep the lights on, surprisingly, coal has made more than its fair share of headlines over the past few years. Load-shedding, wet coal, silo collapse, the Guptas, Glencore, Optimum Coal, and Eskom are all catchphrases that have almost become part of the South African vernacular. So why all the fuss about coal?
Keeping the wheels turning
In South Africa, coal is, as the layperson believes, the one thing that really keeps the economic wheels turning. Without coal, there is no electricity, despite recent gains made by renewable energy sources like solar and wind. Coal is one of the most abundant and easiest resources to mine in South Africa. It occurs in shallow seams in large parts of the country and is arguably one of the more profitable mining ventures to take on. The nature of most coal deposits in South Africa lends itself to opencast mining, which requires significantly less capital inputs compared to a deep underground platinum mine, for example. Moreover, the coal washing process is a lot simpler than the chemical process applied to extract platinum from the ore body and naturally, a lot cheaper.
As a result, coal is targeted by many junior exploration companies with a view that it is easy, simple, and profitable to mine. However, a word of caution: there is a lot more to coal than meets the eye. Those who believe that mining coal is an easy route to affluence and who dismiss this fossil fuel as nothing more than an organic compound waiting to be burned in a boiler, should think twice and would do well to visit one of the top coal testing laboratories in South Africa.
Photos by Leon Louw
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MARCH 2018 MINING MIRROR [ 13 ]